Reports: W.H. told of IRS targeting probe in April

The White House counsel learned the preliminary results of a probe into the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups in late April.

A senior White House official confirmed to POLITICO that Treasury Department staffers told White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler the inspector general report was nearing completion during the week of April 22.

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“Staff of the [White House counsel’s office] were informed that the Inspector General for Tax Administration was completing a report finding that line IRS employees had improperly scrutinized certain 501(c)(4) organizations by using words like ‘tea party’ and ‘patriot,’” the official said. “Staff were further informed that the report had not been finalized, and the publication date of the report was uncertain but likely soon.”

The White House official didn’t say whether Ruemmler told other staffers of the findings before last Friday, when the agency admitted that it singled out conservative groups’ applications for nonprofit status. President Barack Obama said he found out about the inspector general’s report from news stories that day.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney originally acknowledged that the counsel’s office had been told of the investigation during a press briefing last Monday. But Carney didn’t explicitly say Ruemmler had learned that conservative groups were targeted and how they were singled out.

Past White House counsels — essentially, the president’s top lawyer — told the Journal that Ruemmler would’ve been right to avoid telling the president. Had she told Obama, she risked interfering in the inspector general’s work, a potentially bigger scandal.